Saudi Arabian Oil Co., as the company is officially known, had considered issuing up to $40 billion in bonds to help buy 70% of Saudi Basic Industries Corp., The Wall Street Journal has reported. But people familiar with Aramco’s financing discussions say the oil firm is now worried about the level of disclosure required for a bond issue and whether the uncertain outlook for the oil market might damp demand for debt or increase the cost of borrowing. Aramco executives also have raised concerns that the recent diplomatic fallout from the murder of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi might affect investors’ appetite for Saudi debt, the people said. The Saudi government is encouraging Aramco to buy the stake to inject cash into its sovereign-wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, or PIF, which owns the stake in the petrochemicals firm. Instead of a bond, Aramco is now looking at a […]